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County hears detailed briefing on wheel tax, excise surtax and Community Crossings direct distribution
Summary
State LTAP trainer outlined how DeKalb County could raise local road money by adopting concurrent wheel tax and excise surtax ordinances and how that adoption would be required to receive a direct Community Crossings distribution under House Bill 1461.
DeKalb County officials on June 11 heard a detailed informational presentation about local option highway-user taxes — commonly called the wheel tax and excise surtax — and how adopting those ordinances affects eligibility for Community Crossings direct distributions.
The presentation by Jennifer Sharkey of the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program at Purdue University walked the County Council through the two taxes and how the Bureau of Motor Vehicles collects and remits them, and she emphasized a recent state-law change that ties direct Community Crossings funding to local adoption.
“Wheel Tax and Excise Surtax are actually 2 separate taxes, but they must be adopted concurrently,” Sharkey said, explaining that the excise surtax can be set as a flat fee or as a percentage of a vehicle’s excise tax and that the wheel tax is a per-registration flat fee. She told the council that under House Bill 1461 a local unit must have both taxes adopted to qualify for the Community Crossings direct distribution based on lane miles.
Why it matters: the Community Crossings program has historically…
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